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The Bedford County School Board made three administrative appointments at its regular meeting Thursday night, including naming a new assistant superintendent.

The school board filled the school division’s number two spot, approving Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doug Schuch’s recommendation of Dr. Cherie Whitehurst as assistant superintendent for Bedford County Public Schools.

Schuch officially took the helm of Bedford County Public Schools on July 1, taking over from Dr. James Blevins who retired after a dozen years with the school division. His transition began before Blevins left. Schuch spent some time here while wrapping up his work in Stafford County where he had served in that school division’s central office.

Camp Virginia Jaycee will reopen on July 26 for its last three sessions of the summer.

The camp closed earlier this month after an internal investigation discovered that an adult camper did not receive her scheduled dose of a prescribed medication on time. Camp Jaycee serves adults with mental disabilities and those who are on medications require assistance to make sure they take the proper dose at the proper time. The camp director and medical director were fired as a result of the incident and two nurses were suspended.

All Bedford Police Lieutenant Todd Foreman had to do was follow the Yellow Brick Road at the end of a two-month FBI Academy.

This is easier said than done. The Yellow Brick Road is a 6.2 mile run. The FBI Academy is held at Quantico and 3.1 miles of this run consisted of a Marine Corps obstacle course. Lt. Foreman has a yellow brick with the number of his FBI Academy class to prove he made it. Bedford Police Chief Jim Day also has one. He completed the Academy while with Roanoke’s police department.

With our nation’s health care system in crisis, I have not heard one word about how to really fix it. I have heard about nationalization, forcing everyone to have insurance and making care providers cut their prices through government mandates. However, none of these so called “solutions” addresses the real issue, the root cause of skyrocketing health care costs: Health Insurance.

Michael Vick is now a free man. He’s paid his penalty and now should have the right to once again make a living.

And if he’s in shape, that should include playing in the National Football League this year.

On Monday, Vick completed his 23-month sentence for running a dog-fighting ring. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell does not yet have a meeting with Vick on his calendar. He should hold that meeting soon and give Vick the opportunity to earn a spot on an NFL roster.

I’d like to report on two pieces of legislation I’ve introduced in Congress.

As a member of the Health Subcommittee of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I’ve had the privilege of working to provide the best health care not just for our veterans but also for their families, who join in this incredible sacrifice for our country. To that end, I’ve introduced a bill called the Health Care for Family Care Givers Act of 2009, which would provide medical care for family members who act as the primary caregivers for severely disabled veterans.

With all the attention over Michael Jackson and other celebrity deaths in recent weeks, a lot of people may have missed the passing of a very important modern historical figure: Vietnam War architect Robert S. McNamara.

McNamara died July 6 at the age of 93 at his Washington home. The headline on the obituary story in the Roanoke Times was utterly appropriate: “McNamara never shook Vietnam.”

In recent weeks we have been treated to the spectacle of the president of what still remains the most powerful nation in the world bullying a small, poor country.

On June 28, the Honduran Army arrested that country’s president, Manuel Zelaya, put him on a plane and flew him out of the country. President Obama has joined other countries in condemning this as a military coup.